Close Call

Kevin Smith Survives ‘Massive Heart Attack’

The filmmaker said he narrowly avoided death.

Kevin Smith—the filmmaker best known for Clerks and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back—survived a “massive heart attack” Sunday night. Tweeting from a hospital, the director, actor, and producer, 47, said he’d had a 100 percent blockage in one of his arteries—which he said doctors refer to as “the widow-maker”—and had narrowly avoided death. Smith performed live at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, California, Sunday and had a second performance scheduled for 9 p.m. He said that if he hadn’t canceled the second show to go to hospital he would have died. The star tweeted: “After the first show this evening, I had a massive heart attack. The Doctor who saved my life told me I had 100% blockage of my LAD artery (aka ‘the Widow-Maker’). If I hadn’t canceled show 2 to go to the hospital, I would’ve died tonight. But for now, I’m still above ground!”